Toyota Series Championship Midday Update – Day 2

COUNCE, Tenn. – Day 2 of the Toyota Series Championship Presented by Guaranteed Rate on Pickwick Lake has played out to this point very much in the same manner of the morning of Day 1. The weather has been a little drizzly and breezy, the weights are somewhat middle-of-the-road across the board and grass continues to be the primary player in hunting for winning fish.

Once again, the section of Pickwick that stretches from the Natchez Trace Bridge to Florence, Alabama is the hottest area of the lake, at least in terms of boat traffic. There’s a lot of good grass in that stretch, and plenty of anglers are still taking advantage of that grass with various baits – moving and otherwise.

While we’ve seen a lot of winding baits (primarily ChatterBaits and the like), there’s been some punching and flipping going on in select areas. And as was the case yesterday, topwaters are still very much in play, from walking baits to buzzbaits.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day so far is tournament leader Bryan Thrift failing to catch a limit by about 11:15 local time. At that time, he had a few keepers for about 6 pounds, though it’s a pretty safe bet he won’t return to weigh-in this afternoon with just three. As good as he caught them on Day 1, it’s just a matter of time before Thrift does what he does best and sets himself up for a run at the title on Championship Saturday.

Still, several anglers in the field have done their part to apply pressure today. Dakota Ebare, who entered the day in seventh place, caught a 5-pounder on a Carolina rig first thing in the morning. We haven’t gotten an update since then, but that’s one heck of a start considering he was just over 4 pounds shy of Thrift at the end of Day 1.

Similarly, Chris Digino (second place entering Day 2) had a couple of small keepers for 4 to 5 pounds early this morning. He was seen throwing a ChatterBait like a large percentage of his competitors. 

Cody Hoyle, showing something a little different than most, opted for a spinnerbait early in the day and had three keepers to show for it by 8:30. Freddy Adkins had four keepers for around 9 pounds at that time as well, and Wade Curtiss wasn’t far behind with four keepers of his own for 8 to 9 pounds.

Some pros (like James Watson and Rick Harris) have commented on the fishing being tougher today than on Day 1. Overall, if that is the case, it probably isn’t by too much. The conditions seem to be stabilizing somewhat and results across the field match up pretty well with what we saw at this time yesterday.

One pro who’s not finding it much tougher than yesterday is Todd Castledine, who reported having a limit for about 12 pounds around 10:30 and having lost a 5-pounder at some point before that. He’s winding grass and “in a really good mood,” per our eyes and ears on the water. It’s hard to not be in a good mood when you’re catching quality and quantity following a ninth-place showing on Day 1.

Speaking of limits, Kyle Walters had one of his own to report around 11:15 – good for about 13 pounds by his estimation. That’ll be a big boost after Walters weighed in just 9-6 yesterday. Cody Nichols, on the other hand (sixth place entering the day), had just “three small ones” to report by about 11:30.

Surprisingly, there haven’t been too many surprises today. What worked on Day 1 is working again on Day 2, and while weights haven’t been stellar, there’s still plenty of time for someone to put together a bag more typical of Pickwick really has to offer in the fall. Tune in to the live weigh-in at 3:15 p.m. CT on MajorLeagueFishing.com to see how it plays out and to find out who’ll be fishing for up to $235,000 on Championship Saturday.